The story of a bad man redeemed by a baby & a good woman is hardly a new one but Tsotsi is well worth the repetition. Tsotsi(â€˜thugâ€™) leads a small time gang out of the township robbing & murdering in Johannesburg for small booty, without concience. Presley Chweneyagae as Tsotsi- an IMDb search suggested in a first film role- is excellent, all seething rage just below the surface & no boundaries as to how he expresses that rage. But when during a carjacking he shoots itâ€™s female owner, that is about to change. In the back of the car is her small baby. Left in the car abandoned on a small road above the township it has very little hope of survival & its helplessness awakens something in Tsotsi. He packs it into a carrier bag & as he runs towards the township we see the young man become the boy he once was. His journey has begun.

Comparison have been made to City of God but that is a rather lazy comparison. They both features an exotic world of unbelivable poverty & vicious crime but the latters is much more stylised almost documentary. Tsotsi in comparison occasionally looks like a stage play.

If your thinking of waiting till it comes out on DVD then make sure your television is loud enough to project the kwaito soundtrack. Music not designed to be played softly methinks